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Still

2003
Not on view
Still is based on a photograph of a woman's head in a morgue. Her matted hair, like the sagging flesh of her face, falls to one side, pulled downward by the force of gravity. The whole is cast in a beautiful but eerie blue light, and the two round forms at the upper right, presumably examination lights, add a haunting note. Jenny Saville applies her varied palette of oil colors in broad, fluid strokes, building a rich painterly surface she likens to layers of flesh. The creamy textures and opalescent hues seduce the eye yet seem at odds with the gruesome nature of the subject.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Still
  • Artist: Jenny Saville (British, born Cambridge, 1970)
  • Date: 2003
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 8 ft. 11 3/4 in. × 12 ft. 1/8 in. (273.7 × 366.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Martin and Toni Sosnoff, 2011
  • Object Number: 2011.516
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Jenny Saville
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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